At last, someone who seems to be sensible about cats!
I have to agree about handling strange cats. A long time ago, there was a stray cat hanging around my place. I fed it, and it liked to sit on my lap and purr, and all was well. One day, with no warning at all, it bit my hand to the bone. Fortunately, the local animal control was able to catch the cat and it did not have rabies, so I avoided the prophylactic shots.
I have always thought that the neuter-and-release programs are idiotic and inhumane. If you have captured the cat, why then release it again to be killed by predators or eventually to die in some other fashion almost certain to be much slower and more painful than humane euthanasia?
That said, I don’t shoot cats, either. We have four at present, three of whom were taken in as stray kittens, but we keep them indoors and let the local stray/feral cats stay outdoors to do the best they can. Coyotes keep outdoor cats thinned out pretty well around here, anyway.
I have always thought that the neuter-and-release programs are idiotic and inhumane.
I sort of agree. Jackson and TNR advocates argue that unless the environment is changed (ie food source and shelters removed) it more expensive to continually trap and euthanize more and more cats than to alter the cats and maintain a stable colony over a longer period. But unless you are setting up a semi protected sanctuary type situation, trap and return doesn’t take into consideration the quality of life for the animals living in the face of an array of dangers and diseases at all.